Archive for the Category ‘The Orbit’

China in Africa

China in Africa

IN 1890, the French statesman Jules Francois Camille Ferry wrote, “an irresistible movement is bearing the great nations of Europe towards the conquest of fresh territories. It is like a huge steeplechase into the unknown…whole continents are being annexed…especially the huge black continent so full of fierce mysteries and vague hopes.”

Restoring Nigeria will require hard choices

Restoring Nigeria will require hard choices

LAST week, the famous Nigerian novelist, Chinua Achebe received an unlikely guest at his home in the Catskills. Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s former anti-corruption cop went to see the sagely fabulist. It might have been a social visit, but one thing led to another, and soon Nuhu Ribadu and Achebe began to talk about the prodigal nation.

Revisiting the Asaba massacres

Revisiting the Asaba massacres

MY attempt this week is to bring some attention to the subject of the Asaba massacres, one of the haunting ghosts of Nigeria’s last civil war. I pay particular tribute to Emma Okocha – Onye Amuma Cable – author of Blood on the Niger, the chilling account of the Asaba massacres of October 7, 1967.

Falae’s lament, and the vile legacy of Nigeria’s elite

Falae’s lament, and the vile legacy of Nigeria’s elite

TWO weeks ago, in two separate interviews with Olu Falae, published by two Nigerian newspapers, one of which of course was the Sunday Vanguard, Nigerians were afforded a rare glimpse into the soul of the man. It was a troubled soul.

The trouble with Nigeria

The trouble with Nigeria

Nigeria has not managed to transcend the history of its colonial origins

The reforms in the civil service

The reforms in the civil service

The plans to retire an entire generation of civil servants from the position of directors, and cap the years of service of the permanent under secretaries of the Federal Civil Service announced recently by the current Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria, Steve Oronsaye is wrong headed policy.

Gani

Gani

I never knew Gani Fawehinmi in a deep and personal way, but he was of course, rested somewhere in my consciousness, as I’m sure he does in the consciousness of any Nigerian of my generation, as an inevitable testimony of true acts of public heroism. He was indeed the hero of the silent unrepresented; those we love to call the masses. He, therefore, somehow, seemed to belong to all of us.

The Akanu Ibiam international airport

The Akanu Ibiam international airport

Eastern and indeed many Middle belt international travelers have frequently demanded this upgrade for a number of reasons, chief of which is the inconvenience of always travelling to Lagos, Abuja or Kano, or even Port-Harcourt before they could board or even disembark from an international flight.

Kidnapping in the east is the revolt of the oppressed

Kidnapping in the east is the revolt of the oppressed

Military governors sent to the East, including those who were Igbo military officers, often thought their assignments to the East was a continuation of the civil war by other means. Their mandates, it seemed, was not to develop the East, but to slow it down.

The new face of Imo is all on the billboards

The new face of Imo is all on the billboards

I WAS home to Imo State this past May to bury my father who died on May 3 at the Federal Medical Centre in Umuahia and was buried on June 6, 2009 in his home at Mbaise. Just as an aside, I wish to thank all those who through their messages, gifts, prayers and presence supported and stood by my family throughout the period of the funeral rites.

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